Capcom's first announcement was something players had suspected for awhile - based on the upcoming PS3/PS4 compatible Ultra Street Fighter 4 fightstick - Ultra Street Fighter 4 will receive a port to the Playstation 4. This is a neat announcement, especially since this release will come with all of the costume packs that have been included so far (and it should be dropping in time for Omega Mode to show up on the system, which will make it more appealing to a new audience).
Capcom's other big announcement was quite a bombshell: Street Fighter 5 is coming, and it will be console exclusive to the Playstation 4 (with a parallel PC release). It was doubly effective because it ended up being a leak - the YouTube release of the teaser trailer for SF5 ended up going live early, so the news broke earlier than expected and with no accompanying announcement or presentation from Capcom.
This leak was a big bonus for the players, however, as Capcom decided to release an actual (early build) gameplay trailer in the slot they had originally planned for the teaser trailer. That gameplay trailer (which was eventually released in glorious 1080p/60fps) dropped some very interesting and exciting hints as to what players can expect from SF5.
Join me after the break for a discussion of what these reveals mean for Street Fighter - the series and the 5th installment in particular - and what it may mean for the fighting game community (FGC) as a whole).
The most obvious and exciting thing is, of course: Street Fighter 5 is real, and it's happening!
That may have been something taken for granted in the past, but there was a very real chance that SF5 wasn't going to happen anytime soon, if at all. Yoshinori Ono (the producer behind Street Fighter 4 and now 5) went on record saying that funding SF5 was going to be difficult (if not impossible) and as a result the project wasn't nearly as much of a "sure thing" as players may have suspected.
SF4 was a big success. It became a tournament staple almost immediately upon release and all of it's iterations have been well received, but even the most successful fighting games are still catering to a relatively niche audience. Capcom's other business decisions during last generation caused them to bleed money and this left Capcom in a state where they were sitting on one of the (again) most popular properties in the fighting game community, but they couldn't necessarily afford to move forward with the series.
Even the success of SF4 is something of a miracle/fluke/personal crusade. I've read numerous anecdotes saying that Yoshinori Ono had to fight to sell the idea of SF4 to Capcom, who originally wanted nothing to do with the project. Without his efforts, the Street Fighter series may have legitimately died out last generation (at least temporarily.)
Ono's tenacity and passion seem to have found a new lease on life for the Street Fighter series. When Capcom themselves couldn't afford to publish SF5, they shopped it around to the major consoles and Sony was willing to shell out the cash in exchange for an exclusive deal. This gives Sony's Playstation 4 another killer entry in the fighting game genre (already having sole claim to Guilty Gear Xrd) and it in general improves the profile of their console exclusive software.
For the FGC, this makes the PS4 almost certainly the de-facto console for the current generation. Street Fighter and Guilty Gear are both very popular franchises (especially in Japan) and Mortal Kombat X will be released on both current generation consoles, putting three of the biggest fighting game franchises on the same console. The Xbox1 has Killer Instinct, which is a fantastic game (and one I have more to say about, but that'll be a different post) and their port of MKX, but they're unfortunately looking like the somewhat lesser option for a fighting game fan right now.
For me, at least, this isn't unexpected. One of the biggest strengths Sony's consoles have had is their tighter association with games produced by Japanese companies and, for the most part, all of the hallmark fighting game entries come out of Japan. I anticipated that the PS4 would be the more popular console for the FGC based on the theory that, even if all of the big franchises came to both consoles, the more niche titles (most often "anime" style fighters) would only show up on Sony's system (which is what happened for the most part during the 360/PS3 era). SF5 being a PS4 exclusive just locks that in.
The downside to all of this is that it has led to another agonizing round of console fanboy dickwaving. I get it - it feels really satisfying when companies that have absolutely no connection to you and don't care about anything more than your money or endorsement do better than the companies you arbitrarily chose not to support - but, by all that is good and righteous in this world, shut up and just talk about the damn game.
Ahem.
The gameplay trailer showed off some very, very interesting things:
- The art style seems to be an iteration on SF4's. The characters aren't as "big" and cartoony as they were in that game, but there are still some similarities. It's hard to tell at this stage if that's a result of the game being early in development (a lot can change in terms of art and implementation, though I'm sure things won't change drastically) or it's intentional (make it recognizable to people familiar with the look of SF4). Probably a bit of both.
- SF5's engine may be more combo friendly than SF4's, which was itself a throwback to the more rigid combos of SF2. Ryu and Chun Li both pull off some neat little combos during the trailer, and while that's to be expected - trailers should be exciting - mechanically those combos look like things you would have been able to do in, say, Third Strike versus any of the SF4 iterations. Chaining ground hits, juggles, and maybe even an OTG (off-the-ground) all come up during the trailer, and those are much more interesting combo tools than you had to work with in SF4 (at least in my opinion).
- Ryu and Chun Li confirmed! Uh, cool? Nothing against those characters, but I think everyone would be way more shocked if they weren't in the game (Capcom considered that once, then immediately 180'd). I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that Ken will also make the cut. Probably Akuma too. Crazy, I know, but I'm willing to make insane, low probability predictions at this early stage.
- Destructible stages! Well, at least that one door is destructible. But that is pretty cool, and it harkens back to the goofy stage transition stuff Capcom was experimenting with waaaaaay back in the day. It seems like a legit stage alteration as well and not just some "pop" gimmick; the characters keep fighting in that room after Chun Li boots Ryu through the door.
- At different points during the trailer, both characters activate...something. Afterwards both characters show off variant moves: Chun Li is able to throw to Kikokens back to back, Ryu is able to do a little target combo into Shoryuken, etc. Both characters also gain extra special effects on their special attacks. No word on what any of that means, but early speculation is that SF5 may use a system similar to Killer Instinct's Instinct Mode. Whatever it is, it certainly is interesting. Hopefully we'll have more details when the playable build of SF5 shows up at the Capcom Cup.
- The trailer ends on a predictable note: after some back and forth fighting, Ryu winds up for a big-'ol super fancy Hadouken and the trailer cuts out just as he's about to let it loose.
The most interesting thing about that super fancy Hadouken is Street Fighter nerd lore related. Ryu's super fireball for the majority of the series has been the Shinkuu Hadouken - a bigger, stronger fireball. That's not what we see at the end of the trailer though; Ono confirmed shortly after the trailer went up that Ryu is actually charging up a Denjin Hadouken at the end of the trailer.
A very small percentage of you just got excited, while everyone else is wondering what the hell I'm talking about, and why it matters. Let me expound a bit.
The significance of this difference is twofold:
1) Mechanically, the Denjin Hadouken is different from the Shinkuu Hadouken. The Shinkuu Hadouken is a very straightforward super move (art?) - it's a stronger, multi-hitting fireball. Considering it showed up in the very first round of super moves ever in Super Street Fighter 2: Turbo, it's kind of the blueprint for all projectile super moves. It's main purpose is damage, pure and simple.
Ryu's Denjin Hadouken has different applications. It's biggest claim to fame is that it's a chargeable super move, with the biggest payoff coming if you can somehow charge it all the way to max power (at which point it becomes unblockable and causes your opponent to be stunned if it hits). It's a higher risk, higher reward super move that encourages set ups and traps, so it speaks to a more technical style of play.
All of that is based off of previous versions of both moves, of course. There's no telling how SF5 will interpret those moves or how the engine will handle them. But it's interesting speculation as to what styles of play SF5 may allow/encourage.
2) Much more importantly (at least to me), Ryu first gained access to the Denjin Hadouken in a particular era of the Street Fighter series: Street Fighter 3. This gives us a possible placement as to where SF5 falls in the Street Fighter series timeline, and if it pans out I'll be a very happy camper.
Street Fighter 3 (most specifically, Street Fighter 3: Third Strike) ended up being one of my favorites out of the entire series. There are a few reasons for that, the most important being that it is a very aggressive game. It's very fun to watch, it's a blast to play, and it introduced some very cool new characters and mechanics to the series.
If SF5 ends up being set near SF3 on the timeline, that could mean a return to that style of aggressive play. I don't imagine it'll be a full-on return to SF3's mechanics - the Parry system is very cool, but it's also very divisive - but even a return to SF3's more open and interesting combo system would be a welcome change.
Capcom's other big announcement was quite a bombshell: Street Fighter 5 is coming, and it will be console exclusive to the Playstation 4 (with a parallel PC release). It was doubly effective because it ended up being a leak - the YouTube release of the teaser trailer for SF5 ended up going live early, so the news broke earlier than expected and with no accompanying announcement or presentation from Capcom.
 |
| Image Source |
Join me after the break for a discussion of what these reveals mean for Street Fighter - the series and the 5th installment in particular - and what it may mean for the fighting game community (FGC) as a whole).
The most obvious and exciting thing is, of course: Street Fighter 5 is real, and it's happening!
That may have been something taken for granted in the past, but there was a very real chance that SF5 wasn't going to happen anytime soon, if at all. Yoshinori Ono (the producer behind Street Fighter 4 and now 5) went on record saying that funding SF5 was going to be difficult (if not impossible) and as a result the project wasn't nearly as much of a "sure thing" as players may have suspected.
SF4 was a big success. It became a tournament staple almost immediately upon release and all of it's iterations have been well received, but even the most successful fighting games are still catering to a relatively niche audience. Capcom's other business decisions during last generation caused them to bleed money and this left Capcom in a state where they were sitting on one of the (again) most popular properties in the fighting game community, but they couldn't necessarily afford to move forward with the series.
 |
| Image Source |
Ono's tenacity and passion seem to have found a new lease on life for the Street Fighter series. When Capcom themselves couldn't afford to publish SF5, they shopped it around to the major consoles and Sony was willing to shell out the cash in exchange for an exclusive deal. This gives Sony's Playstation 4 another killer entry in the fighting game genre (already having sole claim to Guilty Gear Xrd) and it in general improves the profile of their console exclusive software.
For the FGC, this makes the PS4 almost certainly the de-facto console for the current generation. Street Fighter and Guilty Gear are both very popular franchises (especially in Japan) and Mortal Kombat X will be released on both current generation consoles, putting three of the biggest fighting game franchises on the same console. The Xbox1 has Killer Instinct, which is a fantastic game (and one I have more to say about, but that'll be a different post) and their port of MKX, but they're unfortunately looking like the somewhat lesser option for a fighting game fan right now.
For me, at least, this isn't unexpected. One of the biggest strengths Sony's consoles have had is their tighter association with games produced by Japanese companies and, for the most part, all of the hallmark fighting game entries come out of Japan. I anticipated that the PS4 would be the more popular console for the FGC based on the theory that, even if all of the big franchises came to both consoles, the more niche titles (most often "anime" style fighters) would only show up on Sony's system (which is what happened for the most part during the 360/PS3 era). SF5 being a PS4 exclusive just locks that in.
The downside to all of this is that it has led to another agonizing round of console fanboy dickwaving. I get it - it feels really satisfying when companies that have absolutely no connection to you and don't care about anything more than your money or endorsement do better than the companies you arbitrarily chose not to support - but, by all that is good and righteous in this world, shut up and just talk about the damn game.
Ahem.
The gameplay trailer showed off some very, very interesting things:
 |
| Image Source |
- SF5's engine may be more combo friendly than SF4's, which was itself a throwback to the more rigid combos of SF2. Ryu and Chun Li both pull off some neat little combos during the trailer, and while that's to be expected - trailers should be exciting - mechanically those combos look like things you would have been able to do in, say, Third Strike versus any of the SF4 iterations. Chaining ground hits, juggles, and maybe even an OTG (off-the-ground) all come up during the trailer, and those are much more interesting combo tools than you had to work with in SF4 (at least in my opinion).
- Ryu and Chun Li confirmed! Uh, cool? Nothing against those characters, but I think everyone would be way more shocked if they weren't in the game (Capcom considered that once, then immediately 180'd). I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that Ken will also make the cut. Probably Akuma too. Crazy, I know, but I'm willing to make insane, low probability predictions at this early stage.
- Destructible stages! Well, at least that one door is destructible. But that is pretty cool, and it harkens back to the goofy stage transition stuff Capcom was experimenting with waaaaaay back in the day. It seems like a legit stage alteration as well and not just some "pop" gimmick; the characters keep fighting in that room after Chun Li boots Ryu through the door.
- At different points during the trailer, both characters activate...something. Afterwards both characters show off variant moves: Chun Li is able to throw to Kikokens back to back, Ryu is able to do a little target combo into Shoryuken, etc. Both characters also gain extra special effects on their special attacks. No word on what any of that means, but early speculation is that SF5 may use a system similar to Killer Instinct's Instinct Mode. Whatever it is, it certainly is interesting. Hopefully we'll have more details when the playable build of SF5 shows up at the Capcom Cup.
 |
| Image Source |
The most interesting thing about that super fancy Hadouken is Street Fighter nerd lore related. Ryu's super fireball for the majority of the series has been the Shinkuu Hadouken - a bigger, stronger fireball. That's not what we see at the end of the trailer though; Ono confirmed shortly after the trailer went up that Ryu is actually charging up a Denjin Hadouken at the end of the trailer.
A very small percentage of you just got excited, while everyone else is wondering what the hell I'm talking about, and why it matters. Let me expound a bit.
The significance of this difference is twofold:
1) Mechanically, the Denjin Hadouken is different from the Shinkuu Hadouken. The Shinkuu Hadouken is a very straightforward super move (art?) - it's a stronger, multi-hitting fireball. Considering it showed up in the very first round of super moves ever in Super Street Fighter 2: Turbo, it's kind of the blueprint for all projectile super moves. It's main purpose is damage, pure and simple.
Ryu's Denjin Hadouken has different applications. It's biggest claim to fame is that it's a chargeable super move, with the biggest payoff coming if you can somehow charge it all the way to max power (at which point it becomes unblockable and causes your opponent to be stunned if it hits). It's a higher risk, higher reward super move that encourages set ups and traps, so it speaks to a more technical style of play.
All of that is based off of previous versions of both moves, of course. There's no telling how SF5 will interpret those moves or how the engine will handle them. But it's interesting speculation as to what styles of play SF5 may allow/encourage.
2) Much more importantly (at least to me), Ryu first gained access to the Denjin Hadouken in a particular era of the Street Fighter series: Street Fighter 3. This gives us a possible placement as to where SF5 falls in the Street Fighter series timeline, and if it pans out I'll be a very happy camper.
Street Fighter 3 (most specifically, Street Fighter 3: Third Strike) ended up being one of my favorites out of the entire series. There are a few reasons for that, the most important being that it is a very aggressive game. It's very fun to watch, it's a blast to play, and it introduced some very cool new characters and mechanics to the series.
 |
| Image Source |
That hope may not be too far off either. SF4 occurs after SF2 in the timeline, and likewise shares a lot of the same mechanical DNA with SF2 (with plenty of modern tweaks). It doesn't seem unreasonable to expect a similar parallel between SF3 and SF5, if they are indeed close on the Street Fighter plot timeline ("plot"?).
It's also an exciting possible development because it opens the door to some SF3 characters making their way into the roster. This already happened a fair bit with SF4 - many fan favorites from SF3 were pulled into that game - but there are still some interesting SF3 characters left that could show back up.
Regardless of any timeline business, I'm legitimately excited for Street Fighter 5. Like a lot of other people, I grew up playing games from the Street Fighter series, and it always feels good to go back there. I was very disappointed that I couldn't get into SFIV (I never really figured out why but it just never clicked with me) so the prospect of a mainline Street Fighter game with more aggressive mechanics is intriguing.
Capcom recently showed off more of the game at their Capcom Cup event. We're still missing a lot of crunchy bits regarding the mechanics, but that aside the new gameplay trailer they showed was very cool (especially the stinger at the end) and the exhibition match they held showed that SF5 does look like a more aggressive, combo friendly game (within the bounds of expected Street Fighter gameplay.) Suffice to say, I'm very pleased to see how the game is coming together, and I'm eagerly anticipating more information over the coming months.
All aboard the hype train. Choo-choo!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment